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formed fay, that they have a king or queen, and it 

 is not true, that when they are at work in a body, 

 there is a chief or a leader who gives orders and 

 punilhes the flothful but by virtue of that inftincl: 

 which this animal has from him, whofe Providence 

 governs them, every one knows his own proper 

 office, and every thing is done without confufion, 

 and in the mo ft admirable order. Perhaps, after 

 all, the realbn why we are fo ftruck with it is for 

 want of having recourfe to that fovereign intelli- 

 gence, who makes ufe of creatures void of reafbn, 

 the better to difplay his wifdom and power, and to 

 make us fenfible that our realbn itfelf is almoft al- 

 ways, through our prefumption, the caule of our 

 miftakes. 



The firft thing which our ingenious brutes do, 

 when they are about to chufe a habitation, is to call 

 an affembly if you pleafe, of the ftates of the pro- 

 vince. However this be, there are fometimes three 

 or four hundred of them together in one place, 

 forming a town which might properly enough be 

 called a little Venice. Firft of all they pitch upon 

 a fpot where there are plenty of provifions, with 

 all the materials neceffary for building. Above all 

 things water is abfolutely neceffary, and in cafe they 

 can find neither lake nor pool, they fupply that 

 defect by (topping the courfe of fome rivulet, or of 

 fome fmall river, by means of a dyke, or to fpeak 

 in the language of this country, of a caufeway. 

 For this purpofe, they let about felling of trees, 

 but higher than the place where they have refolved 

 to build i three or four beavers place themfelves 

 round fome great tree, and find ways and means to 

 lay it along the ground with their teeth. This is 

 not all *, they take their meafures fo well, that it 

 always falls towards the water, to the end they may 



have 



8 



